Monday, July 24, 2006

What the hell is that?

As those of you who visit here regularly know, I finished my KWC project a couple of weeks ago and haven’t mentioned anything since then about what I have on the sticks at the moment. Sadly, that’s because my sticks have mostly been bare ever since.

I’ve resolved that now with another pair of socks that I began recently. I know, I know … I said I was going to take on more challenging projects to stretch my knitting ability and yet here I am making another pair of socks. But I have a good excuse! I have not yet knit socks with my own Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino Sock Yarn that I added to my line recently. I knit a few sample swatches to get a feel for the yarn, but I think it’s quite imperative that I actually knit a pair of socks with it!

Let me begin by saying that I LOVE this yarn! It’s very soft and just the weight I like for a sock yarn. It’s a bit lighter than some sock yarns, but that makes it perfect in my book both for knitting very practical and highly wearable socks and also for lace knitting as well. It’s not nearly so thin as a true laceweight yarn, but it’s lightweight enough that it would make a nice quicker-knit and less frustrating substitute if one is so inclined.

And so here is a picture of Sock Number One in progress. And don’t say “What the hell is that?!?” It’s a sock I tell you!

Now, I know this doesn’t look much like a sock, but I swear to you it is indeed a sock and it shall fit! I decided to make full-blown knee-socks this time. This yarn has such wonderful yardage (550 yards to a 4-ounce skein) that I think I may be able to get a full pair of knee-socks out of just one skein. Once I had this thought in mind, I simply had to test it. Of course, if I were wiser I would have knit the socks toe-up so that I could switch to a shorter leg if I find that there is not in fact enough yarn in one skein for a knee-sock, but I’m a creature of habit and didn’t give it a thought when I began and now it’s simply too late to turn back.

So that explains the very long length of the leg, but what about the ridiculously narrow girth, you ask? Well, that’s just an illusion. The sock is knit in a ribbed pattern all the way down the leg and it’s very, very stretchy. I’ve stretched it out with my hand and pulled it up my leg over the widest portion of my calf and it does fit. And no, I do not have tiny little legs.

Of course, the sock in progress does look a bit bizarre. I took it with me to work on during hubby’s softball game last week and his teammates had great fun at my poor sock’s expense. There were lots of crude comments about the “banana hammock” I was knitting. The team’s coach implied that it was a gift for him (his tone, needless to say, was both proud and self-congratulatory!). Boys will be boys, I suppose.

The colorway I’m using is called Deepest Forest. I truly love it! You can’t see it at all in the terrible photo above, but below is a closeup that allows you to see the colors a bit better. There are varied shades of Forest Green, touched with lighter green that gives a bit of a sense that light is dancing on the surface of the knitted fabric. If you look carefully, you will also see that it’s not just forest green, but also a deep shade of charcoal that’s almost black. Overall, the color distinctions are subtle, yet still richly varied in their own quiet way.

Alright. That’s enough rambling about a half a sock. Back to knitting!

5 comments:

What a beautiful color! and an interesting-looking stitch pattern, too. Looking forward to seeing what they look like! And I'll soon be back on the Oregon Coast with more knitting time in my future....

that is a gorgeous color; i was looking for something like that to mke the japanese feather stole of mine for the store sample. but then i started it in alpaca. now we wil have to dream up a shawl design for this yarn.mmm my favorite is the midnite passion. i', sensing a theme to the colors i like (night, dark, passsion—hmmm.)

love the knee sox, but i wouldn't dare, myself; i just don't have the legs for them. now will everyone else be hounding you about if they will stay up?